National diversity and global capitalism

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction / Suzanne Berger -- 1. The Convergence Hypothesis Revisited: Globalization but Still the Century of Nations? / Robert Boyer -- 2. Globalization and Its Limits: Reports of the Death of the National Economy Are Greatly Exaggerated / Robert Wade -- 3. Has France Converged on Germany? Policies and Institutions since 1958 / Andrea Boltho -- 4. American and Japanese Corporate Governance: Convergence to Best Practice? / W. Carl Kester -- 5. Lean Production in the German Automobile Industry: A Test Case for Convergence Theory / Wolfgang Streeck -- 6. Financial Markets in Japan / Shijuro Ogata -- 7. Competition among Forms of Corporate Governance in the European Community: The Case of Britain / Stephen Woolcock -- 8. Competition and Competition Policy in Japan: Foreign Pressures and Domestic Institutions / Yutaka Kosai -- 9. The Convergence of Competition Policies in Europe: Internal Dynamics and External Imposition / Herve Dumez and Alain Jeunemaitre --

10. The Macropolitics of Microinstitutional Differences in the Analysis of Comparative Capitalism / Peter A. Gourevitch -- 11. Retail Convergence: The Structural Impediments Initiative and the Regulation of the Japanese Retail Industry / Frank K. Upham -- 12. Trade and Domestic Differences / Miles Kahler -- 13. Policy Approaches to System Friction: Convergence Plus / Sylvia Ostry -- 14. Free and Managed Trade / Paul Streeten -- 15. Convergence in Whose Interest? / Ronald Dore.

How does globalization change national economies and politics? Are rising levels of trade, capital flows, new communication technologies, and deregulation forcing all societies to converge toward the same structures of production and distribution? Suzanne Berger and Ronald Dore have brought together a distinguished group of experts to consider how the international economy shapes and transforms domestic structures.

Drawing from experience in the United States, Europe, and Asia, the contributors ask whether competition, imitation, diffusion of best practice, trade, and financial flows are reducing national diversities. The authors seek to understand whether the sources of national political autonomy are undermined by changes in the international system. Can distinctive varieties of capitalism that incorporate unique and valued institutions for achieving social welfare survive in a global economy?

The contributions to the volume present a challenge to conventional views on the extent and scope of globalization as well as to predictions of the imminent disappearance of the nation state's leverage over the economy.